A Hard Past And a Harder Future
by Arexander
Summary: The ponies of Equestria find themselves in a new, blocky world. The princesses are missing, a strange spell has left the pegasi flightless and the unicorns' magic diminished greatly. At night tIme, hostile creatures roam the world. Towns have been founded and the Mane 6 currently reside in the town of Serenity. In all of this, a new, strange pony arrives in Serenity. DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1: Serenity and distress

**A/N Hello everypony! I'm Arexander and this is my first story around here. It's based on my OC's adventures in the Minecraft server of Crafting is Magic so anything can happen due to the different players playing on the server. You can be a part of the story too, if you happen to be online on the server at the same time as I am and manage to find me in person around there. But no more of that, enjoy the story!  
**

The town of Serenity lived up to its name as I walked between the silent buildings. It was so peaceful I almost had to remind myself to be on guard for any hostilities aimed towards me by the seemingly non-existent town's people. After all, you never know when your friendly neighbors turn into oppressing and cruel beings trying to reveal every little secret or knowledge you've ever had. "'_Friend'_..." I thought bitterly, "_Must be a synonym with 'a cunning and ruthless enemy'._" I took a deep breath of the crisp evening air and slowly let it out of my lungs, trying to calm myself before my anger could get a hold of me.

I quickened my pace along the gravel road leading to the public farm of Serenity. The sooner I got to collecting a few seeds the sooner I could end my last visit to the so-called 'civilization' and return to my life of solitude. I could already see the wheat fields, already ripe for harvest, when I heard the one thing I was afraid of most...

"Hey there, sport!"

I let another sigh out as my hopes of passing through the town unnoticed were crushed by a friendly voice calling me from behind. I hesitantly turned my head to face the threat cantering closer and stayed silent. The pony approaching me had a friendly smile plastered on his muzzle and his eyes tried to penetrate the slowly setting darkness to take note of my face. As he got closer I noticed a flinch of hesitation and disappointment as he noticed that I had covered my body with a large dirt-brown cloak hiding everything but the tip of my muzzle and the lower parts of my hooves underneath. I was glad of his reaction, at least I could keep my looks to myself. He was wearing some kind of a black and grey uniform along with flying goggles so I couldn't see much of him either. He had a tint of familiarity from somewhere, I was quite certain I had seen him somewhere so I kept my guard up even more so.

I finally broke the silence when he came to a halt a few hooves in front of me. "Hello, good sir" was my dull but polite answer. Avoiding others doesn't mean I can't be polite when I want to and in this situation it's better to be polite. He hesitated for a heartbeat when he heard my flat voice but quickly regained his confidence.

"My name's Fire. What's yours?" he asked. "_He really seems to try to make another friend_", I thought as I pondered whether I wanted to tell him my name or not. "_Unlucky for him, he won't find a friend in me."_

"Name's Arexander. Nice to meet you", I said with a hint of sarcasm covering the last part. He didn't seem to notice it as he eagerly continued.

"Are you new around here?" Fire asked, making me wonder how I couldn't be new as he should know all the inhabitants of the town as it's relatively small.

"Well, you could say so. I just recently arrived for a quick visit at the public farm to refill my food stock and then I was planning on continuing my journey", I answered truthfully. He seemed both sad and joyous at the same time when he heard I'm new but leaving soon.

"Well, in that case, welcome to Serenity!" Fire exclaimed, "This is the most peaceful town in the whole of Equestria, or what's left of it. I can give you a quick tour of the town if you want." "_Sure you could_", I thought as I answered.

"Thank you very much for the offer, but I really need to be on my way as soon as possible. I have a lot of ground to cover and night is already setting", I said as I refused the offer and turned to continue towards the wheat fields. I noticed another flash of disappointment from him but then he perked and began to rummage through his saddle bags, which I was quick to take note of. I began to wonder how I didn't notice them in the first place.

"Okay, well I won't be holding you back then. But if you're going to travel in the dark, at least take this sword with you" Fire said as he pulled out a sword from his saddle bags. The sword was made of stone and I noticed some wear and tear on it. It was still better than nothing and nothing was all I had at the moment. He held the sword by the tip of the blade with its hilt turned towards me. I contemplated kicking the hilt with my hind legs but then again, I wouldn't really gain anything from killing him. I grabbed the hilt of the sword with my mouth while Fire let go of the blade to avoid any unwanted injuries. I wondered how he trusted a complete stranger with a sword while I put the sword in my saddle bags. Then he seemed to remember something as he said: "Oh, and take this bread too. I have loads more back home so I can part with it. And don't worry about repaying me for all this, consider it a welcome gift." Fire pulled three loaves of bread from his saddle bag and hoofed them over to me.

"Thank you very much, kind sir" I said with a hint of gratitude in my otherwise flat voice. Now I wouldn't need to harvest so much wheat as I already had some food to keep me going.

"You can drop the 'sir' already, just Fire will be fine", Fire said, seemingly bothered of the word. He then proceeded to look at the setting sun and then back to me. "I won't be keeping you any longer from continuing your travels. Have a pleasant time in Serenity and good luck for the future! See ya later Arex!"

"See ya!" I replied, glad that he left. I turned around and began towards the farm.

* * *

"_Eight loaves of bread, enough wheat, pumpkin and watermelon seeds for four square meters of land each, and carrot seeds and potatoes for one square meter each. Should be enough for now._" With that thought I left the Serenity public farm munching a slice of watermelon and made my way through the town to the southward road. Two hours had passed since I started collecting the seeds and it was fairly dark now. I was aware of the monsters inhabiting the land at night so I kept my speed at a fairly quick trot while I was recalling my memories of the map of the land I was traveling through. "_If I remember right, this road should pass by a large farming complex. I need to find it and then continue east to a large body of water. Then I just need to find a way to cross the body of water eastwards and I should arrive at the place._" I recollected.

I could soon see the farming complex and proceeded along my plan to circle around it towards east. I entered a coniferous forest with pine trees and spruces towering over me. The darkness had now completely covered the land and I was extra careful of where I set my hoof as I kept an eye on the surrounding forest for any monsters. I really wasn't fit for a fight at the moment with only a stone sword to defend myself with and just a few hours of sleep from the naps I had during daylight. Night time was no time to sleep if you didn't have four sturdy walls and a roof over your head so I kept going ever so watchful.

Just as I could catch a glimpse of the body of water I was going to cross a twig snapped between me and the next step of my journey. I trained my eyes on a moving figure behind the branches of a nearby spruce. I stayed silent in hopes of staying hidden in the dark of the night and the shadows of the forest while trying to see who or what the figure was. The figure stepped into the moonlight and began its way towards my hiding place. It was one of the monsters roaming around the land during the nights, a zombie to be exact. I released the breath I just noticed I was holding and prepared myself mentally for the fight to come. A zombie I could handle, as long as it was alone and I had at least some kind of a weapon.

I concentrated my mind on the sword in my saddle bag and soon it slid its way out of the bag surrounded by a light tan glow. Telekinesis could be very helpful at times, especially in fights against non-magical enemies. The zombie didn't even blink at the show of unicorn magic as it neared closer to satisfy its hunger. Just as I was about to release the sword on the zombie I heard a clatter from behind it followed by a musical twang. I instinctively took a quick step to my left and heard an arrow zoom past me. The shooter revealed itself when it rose out of a small hole in the ground and I recognized it as a skeleton, another of the monsters of the night. It picked another arrow from the quiver it was carrying and plucked it into the string of its bow, aiming it at me.

I ducked behind the zombie just as the skeletal archer released the string and with another twang the arrow whooshed towards its target. This time the arrow hit and a loud cry of pain was heard in the forest. The skeleton hesitated for a second before picking the next arrow to be launched while the zombie turned around to face the skeleton, an arrow protruding from the back of the undead. The zombie groaned angrily and began towards the arrogant archer while I took my chances and began galloping away from the two monsters. The archer tried to hit me in the back as I ran but the zombie had closed in and the skeleton had to dodge the swing of a green hoof, sending the arrow towards the stars. I took a last glance at the fighting monsters and hastily made my way towards the beach.

* * *

I spat again, trying to make the taste go away. I had crossed the body of water with a hastily built raft and was now on firm ground once again. Well, when I say 'crossed' I mean 'tried to keep the raft together with magic while paddling across'. The feat ended with the raft falling apart about 15 meters before I hit the shore so I had to swim for a while, getting salty water in my mouth in the process. I was soaked and my eyes burned from contact with the salt but I didn't have anything to wash them with so I just had to bear with it.

I cursed the land and its magic lessening effects again. Had it been the Equestria of the princesses I could have made it without the dip but as the princesses aren't in power any more most of the magical aspects of the ponydom have been lessened if not vanished. The unicorns couldn't use powerful magic any more, most could only use telekinesis for small objects at most, the raft falling apart due to the size of it. Then there were the pegasi who couldn't fly or manage the weather and the earth ponies whose strength and constitution had lessened after the passive magic left them. All in all, the different ponies were now the same except for the looks and for the fact that the unicorns could still levitate small objects.

I took a look around. The sun was about to break the horizon judging by the colours of the sky so I got a fairly good look around. I didn't see any nearby monsters and that was a good first sign. I was at the bottom of a small cliff, which continued along the coast. On the cliff I could see forest so I began to climb the incline. Reaching the top I saw nothing but forest far into the island. I decided to walk along the coast for a while to get a better look at the surroundings.

Some time after that the sun had climbed over the horizon to shine to the land again. It wasn't as warm as it used to be under Celestia's reign and the nights weren't as bright as under Luna's control but it had to do for now. I noticed a small natural tunnel nearby and went to investigate it out of curiosity. I started a bit when a sudden hiss sounded and a giant spider jumped from the ceiling towards me. It caught me by surprise and tackled me to the ground trying to strike me with its poison fangs. I struggled underneath it trying to give it a kick to the belly but the eight legs of the creature made it difficult.

The spider couldn't get his fangs on me as I struggled so it retorted to kicking me with its legs. I winced from the pain of the first kick but I managed to land a kick of my own to the spider as it prepared another kick for me. The spider hissed from pain and jumped backwards as my kick landed on the soft belly of the monster. I got on my hooves and pulled out my sword with telekinesis once again. The spider lunged towards me while I threw my sword towards it resulting in the spider getting impaled on the sword while I fell on my back when the heavy spider landed on me, dead.

I lifted the spider off of me and lay panting on the ground for a while. My left side was sore from the kick I received but I was glad to get out of the fight alive. Had the spider gotten its fangs on me, the result would have been very different. "_Now, to check the tunnel_", I thought as I slowly got on my hooves again. I carefully stepped into the tunnel trying to pierce the darkness covering the floor for any sudden drops or holes I might fall into. The tunnel seemed empty now that its former inhabitant lay dead on the ground, green ooze dripping from the cut where the sword impaled the monster.

I reached the end of the short tunnel to face the same forest I observed from the coast. Turning around, I saw something black covering the stony surface of the tunnel floor. I picked a loose piece off the floor and examined it thoroughly. It was black-grey and I could draw black lines on the stone floor with it. I took a small piece of it with me to examine it more after I found a dwelling place for me. I went back to the spider and noticed something still inside it. I then remembered I hadn't pulled out my sword after slaying the beast so I proceeded to do just that.

After pulling out the sword and depositing it inside my saddle bag I began walking inland. The forest was deciduous, consisting of oaks and birches. A small hill beside a small depression seemed like a good place for my dwelling so I proceeded to search for suitable material for making basic tools. A stone with one sharp edge would do for a make-do axe for chopping down trees and a branch with a split head would act as a shovel for removing dirt after I removed one half of the split. I began chopping down a few trees and turning the logs into planks.

* * *

The evening was drawing near when I stopped building my dwelling for the day. It was not much, just a self-made cave inside a dirt hill supported by planks on the walls, ceiling and floor. I had made a furnace out of some rocks I found nearby for baking bread and keeping the place warm and I also made a small work table for myself. Tests with the strange black rock proved it to be flammable so I presume it's coal as I've never seen it before. I used it to make a torch to provide light and also proceeded to make a very crude pickaxe out of stone to mine for more of the coal from the tunnel. Also included in the furniture was a large chest for storage.

"_I still need to find a place for my farm, preferably somewhere where it can't be found easily. Maybe try __delving underground for metals too_", I though. "_But, all in good time. Now is time for me to finally get some rest. The door I made will keep unwanted guests outside so I should be good to sleep here. It'll probably be uncomfortable but I have no choice until I find something to make a bed out of._" I lay down next to the still warm furnace and fell asleep in a matter of minutes.


	2. Sad News

It has come to pass that the server this story was based on has closed and I cannot continue the story anymore. I'm sorry for anyone expecting a new update or continuation of the story but that won't happen anymore. I know I only got to the start of the story but I haven't played on the server but once so I too am sad to see the story die so young. Again, sorry for stopping so abruptly.

- Arexander


End file.
